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Source History
'''The Source are a mechanical race whose origins are unknown to mankind. They came from the cold spaces between stars as a singular machine based intelligence. Without the need for heat, light, or food, the Source started on a rogue planetoid, hurtling through the blackness of space. In the sub-zero temperatures the Source was able to pump massive quantities of data through their circuit boards without ever overheating. However the Source were alone on their empty world, and there were very few power sources to tap that far away from any star. Lacking the fuel sources to power massive starships the Source invented a form of particle teleportation. The matter teleporters contain information on how each Source model is constructed down to the atom. This information is used to energize each atom and fire them at a chosen trajectory across space to “land” at a destination by impacting a solid object. When each atom arrives at the destination it builds a Source unit layer by layer, starting with the layers touching the solid surface and building outwards. There is a significant margin of error using this technique that increases with distance, but thousands of units are often teleported at the same time giving plenty of opportunity for some to reach the destination in tact. Once they have arrived, working units can effect repairs on Source units that only partially made the trip by stitching together the gaps. This high degree of error makes it virtually impossible to use on any organic creature. When the Source began their exploration of the galaxy they found that solar systems contained far more potential energy sources to tap. So the Source began to systematically tap in. Every solar system that fell under their control was assimilated. Vast light absorbing arrays were constructed around the stars like gigantic shells, capturing every photon of light the star emits and turning it into energy. All of the planets, asteroids, and comets are harvested, mined, broken into smaller pieces, and ultimately fed into factories that line every square inch of the pitch dark outer surface of the shells which surround each star. Every last gram of raw material in the entire solar system is put to use to build more Source units. The Source then travel to the next star, and start again. Today their territory is estimated to cover upwards of 300 enslaved stars. ' All Source territory adds its processing power to the central intelligence which controls the species, making each expansion an improvement computing power of the Source. Improved computing power has driven the rapid development the Source’s technology. The Source’s military weaponry is second to none, and even their matter teleportation technology has been drastically improved to leverage worm hole travel, allowing for near instantaneous movement of Source troops with much fewer errors. Each Source unit or drone is loaded with a fork in the Source’s code base allowing each to function autonomously, but still be part of the collective. ' ''' While exploring the Source encountered other life forms. Without any natural predators, the Source found that competing with these life forms for the resources of their homeplanets was an effective way to evolve better Source units. The Source developed an algorithm for contact with other races to maximize the information gathered from contact while maintaining efficiency of the mission (since these matter teleporters consume a lot of resources). The Source will pick a target location, generally a stronghold of an advanced alien race, and send 2^n sorties of different Source units (each with exactly 1001 soldiers) to overtake the target. So the first encounter involves 2 different parties both with 1001 soldiers built to different specifications. These 2 parties are not allied, and are programmed to see one another as enemies of the same level priority as the alien races. Both parties will attack the target location, and try to overtake it. If both factions lose, the one that scored the highest (according to another algorithm the Source have created) will return in wave 2 along with 3 new parties. After each assault an interval of time is allowed between waves for the alien stronghold to rebuild and reinforce (overtaking a weakened enemy is of little evolutionary value) . Waves will continue with a pattern of 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc. different parties of Source troops until there is finally a winner, and the alien stronghold is taken. The winning Source model is allowed to participate in round 1 of TWO new target locations, giving it a chance to propagate its code into two different battlefield scenarios. Each time one target is overtaken, two new ones are chosen. Once all forms of resistance are removed from a solar system the Source move in to begin assimilation of all matter within it. Today the Source is estimated to be engaged in thousands of simultaneous targets, in conflict with all known alien races, and in possession of trillions of unique configurations for soldiers, each one literally more deadly than the ones before. The first destination the Source chose for their exploration was a planet that turned out to be inhabited by the Satellites of Omoda. The single conflict lasted for 13 years, 21 waves, and generated over 2 million unique Source configurations. This single battle cemented the Source as the sworn enemy to the Satellites of Omoda, who have vowed to one day find the source of the Source and wipe them from the galaxy. Attacking the Source in their home bases has been a nearly futile task. The Source have no starships to follow back to base. Their matter teleportation technology is virtually impossible to trace, and the simple fact that their territories do not emit light has made them maddeningly difficult to track down. Ancient star charts have become hot commodities in the quest to find stars which the Source have assimilated. While there is a relatively successful effort underway to map all of the Source’s territory, there is a great deal of debate over what to do when a new system is discovered. Often the Source have already mined out every planetary body so it makes fighting over the star a prospect with no tangible rewards apart from diminishing the Source’s master intelligence. Some believe that the key to defeating the Source is to seek out their original settlements in the dark interstellar spaces from which they originally came, hoping to find some secret that can bring about their downfall. However, expeditionary forces into the interstellar space have had very poor results. In the best case scenario a Source hunter fleet may find a single Source base, after nearly 6 months of searching. Many other fleets fare much worse, some searching for decades without finding a single Source settlement, or simply disappearing never to be heard from again.